The Windows 8 Desktop's Metrofied LookWindows 8 may be edging ever-closer to completion, but Microsoft is apparently still noodling around with it. The latest evidence: Last Friday’s blog post by Windows design honcho Jensen Harris.

He says that the company has decided to eliminate Aero, the default visual theme in Windows Vista and Windows 7. In Windows 8, even the desktop — the home for all classic Windows apps which don’t use the radically-new Metro interface — will have a Metro-like look that abandons transparency and gradients and curvy shapes for a simple, squared-off presentation.

Yes, yes, and more yes

Aero slowed down the computer, added additional unpredictability to ui design, and was a move in the wrong direction. It's great to hear that MS may be moving towards a simpler cleaner approach.

I am not an Aero hater, but I still liked the WinXP's Luna style better. What I do not get is why Microsoft removed it from Vista/7. Would it be so bad if those accustomed to the XP look would be allowed to use it in newer Windows?

It sounds silly to me that Microsoft build a whole sub-system that can handle various UI styles and then only allowed people to choose from 1 style. I know that there are hacks that allow people to use other styles, but why isn't there an official way or why does not Microsoft create at least 10 different styles?

I've always found Aero confusing... being able to see through window titles / edges to the blurred clutter beyond seems akin to working at a glass desk and being constantly distracted by your own feet!

I have no problem with Aero, never did. But the guy's article has some holes in the facts department.

Even given what it did, it was apparently piggy. ...(Apple fawning removed to help his credibility)... But I still don’t understand why Aero consumed resources as voraciously as it did. Microsoft had to build in a feature which shut the special effects off if they were bringing a PC to its knees — which, on the reasonably powerful desktop which I bought in 2007, they often did.

Frankly it didn't, it was just really easy to pick on. The desktop had been converted from bmp to 3D - requiring a beefier video card - and the hardware crowd was dragging their feet getting a stable driver together. Sure Aero was a bit of 3D fluff at the tip of the iceburg...but the 3D desktop was the actual problem. That and cheapout hardware packages (like XP machines that came with only 256MB of RAM...) I'd been a long time nVidia user...until Vista. I had to switch to ATi and I've never looked back (or had any problems).

such as the System Tray cheerfully allowing third-party programs to install unwanted crudware — stuff that bogged down your PC, got in your face and was sometimes devilishly hard to uninstall. But Microsoft ignored such long-standing flaws in favor of playing up Aero’s empty calies.

And the version in 2009′s Windows 7 looked better, performed better and was accompanied by other improvements with more substance, such as the ability to banish pesky System Tray icons.

These two put together are just to stupid for words... Hiding an icon from the user doesn't improve performance. It just makes it harder to figure out what is wasting system resources. Turning the programs off will actually resolve the issue. After listening to end lusers mindlessly babble that nothing is running... for so many time I think that allowing the icons to be hidding is the dumbest thing MS ever did (...Second only to hiding file extensions by default).

Yeah, I'm an Aero hater too. There's room for a little style, and for years I was doing a "SciFi" color set with brooding dark colors, but the layout was still opaque. I didn't like the glassy stuff at all.

Unfortunately, Metro looks ugly as getout, so this feels like Zune for the desktop.

-pleased to read your post, Carol, because I was thinking the thread obviously was an exclusive ('excluding') club, so I didn't dare to post and say that I think Aero is one of the best visual improvements ever on Windows.

I think the real reason MS want to dump Aero is so that Metro doesn't look completely pants (it still does in my opinion but if you have a nice looking desktop it actually makes Metro look even worse).